DC protests greet 24/7 police patrol
WASHINGTON—Residents in one Washington, DC, neighborhood lined up on Wednesday to protest the increased police presence after the White House said the number of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital would ramp up and federal officers would be on the streets around the clock.
After law enforcement set up a vehicle checkpoint along the busy 14th Street Northwest corridor, hecklers shouted, “Go home, fascists” and “Get off our streets.” Some protesters stood at the intersection before the checkpoint and urged drivers to turn away from it.
The action intensified a few days after President Donald Trump’s unprecedented announcement that his administration would take over the city’s police department for at least a month.
The city’s Democratic mayor walked a political tightrope, referring to the takeover as an “authoritarian push” at one point and later framing the infusion of officers as boost to public safety, though one with few specific barometers for success. The Republican president has said crime in the city was at emergency levels that only such federal intervention could fix—even as District of Columbia leaders pointed to statistics showing violent crime at a 30-year low after a sharp rise two years ago.
Traffic stops
For two days, small groups of federal officers had been visible in scattered areas of the city. But more were present in high-profile locations on Wednesday and troops were expected to start doing more missions in Washington on Thursday, according to a National Guard spokesperson who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the planning process.
On Wednesday, agents from Homeland Security Investigations patrolled the popular U Street corridor. Drug Enforcement Administration officers were seen on the National Mall, while National Guard members were parked nearby. DEA agents also joined Metropolitan Police Department officers on patrol in the Navy Yard neighborhood, while FBI agents stood along the heavily trafficked Massachusetts Avenue.
Hundreds of federal law enforcement and city police officers who patrolled the streets on Tuesday night made 43 arrests, compared with about two dozen the night before.
DC Councilmember Christina Henderson downplayed the arrest reports as “a bunch of traffic stops” and said the administration was seeking to disguise how unnecessary this federal intervention is.
“I’m looking at this list of arrests and they sound like a normal Saturday night in any big city,” said Henderson.
Congress approval
Unlike in other US states and cities, the law gives Trump the power to take over Washington’s police for up to 30 days. Extending his power over the city for longer would require approval from Congress, and that could be tough in the face of Democratic resistance.
Trump suggested he could seek a longer period of control or decide to call on Congress to exercise authority over city laws his administration sees as lax on crime. “We’re gonna do this very quickly. But we’re gonna want extensions.”
